Canstruction stacks 52,165 pounds of non-perishable food at TD Centre

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Visitors to Toronto’s financial district may be wondering why there’s an cross section of planet earth made out of canned fish around the corner from a group of nesting dolls built from assorted canned in the lobby of the TD Centre. They’re just two of nineteen structures on display this week, as teams of professional designers, architects, engineers and students took part in Toronto’s 19th Annual Canstruction® Toronto Competition.

In all 52,165 pounds of donated non-perishable food were sculpted into audacious, edible statues all in an effort to fill Toronto’s hunger gap.

“Canstruction is a unique way for the design community to collaborate creatively in support of the Daily Bread Food Bank,” says Helen Kabriel, co-chair of Canstruction® Toronto. “The competition is a catalyst for a city-wide conversation about hunger and our collective responsibility to address the challenges facing Toronto.”

The “Canstructures” are on display for public viewing in the lobbies of the TD Bank, TD North and Ernst & Young towers at 66 Wellington Street West until May 18th, before being disassembled and donated to Daily Bread Food Bank, the city’s largest distributor of food to food banks and meal programs.

“Canstruction does three great things,” said Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank. “It provides almost half of our non-perishable donations in a month when public donations are low; it showcases the creativity and generosity of Toronto’s top architects; and it sparks conversations about how we, together, can build a better city and make the lives of Torontonians better.”

The Canstruction® competition recognizes a variety of factors, not just design aesthetics. The “Best Use of Labels” award focuses on creative graphic possibilities, the “Best Meal” award considers the variety and quality of the food donated, and “Structural Ingenuity” considers the complexity of the design.

Canstruction® Toronto will also have a “People’s Choice Award”, encouraging those passing through the TD Towers and others online to vote by liking a picture of their favourite sculpture on Facebook through the Canstruction® Toronto page. The contest closes on Sunday, May 20th at 9pm and can be found at https://www.facebook.com/canstructionTO.

Canstruction® Toronto build took place from 6 p.m. on May 14th to 1 a.m. on May 15th. The completed “Canstructures” were judged anonymously by a jury on May 15th and winners were announced at an evening reception held at the Design Exchange with Master of Ceremonies Francis D’Souza, Anchor and Senior Editorial Manager at CityNews.

Since the event started in Toronto in 1999, Canstruction® Toronto has donated over one million pounds of food to Daily Bread Food Bank.

Canstruction® Toronto 2018 Participants

Aercoustics Engineering Limited — The MiCANaak

Inspired by an Indigenous creation story, our rendition of Turtle Island reflects and honours the workof local foodbanks— creating a solid foundation to help people thrive.

Blackwell Structural Engineers — SpaceX Launch of Falcon Heavy

While Tesla and SpaceX are moving in the right direction in response to environmental concerns, we are carrying over this positive change to ending world hunger with the support of the world behind us.

Candevcon — Make Your Move to End Hunger

Make your move to take out hunger in this friendly game of TIC-TAC-TOE.

DIALOG® + Govan Brown & Associates — SOUPERCAN

We CAN all join in the fight against hunger!

Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc. — {H2O} : #JoinTheTide

Diamond Schmitt Architects’ {H2O} : #JoinTheTide is a symbol to start a new wave of consciousness and make a splash to end hunger.

Echologics Engineering — Race Against Hunger!

Let’s aim to knock-out hunger in record time

Entuitive with PCL Constructors Bitecoin — Taking a bite out of hunger

Eventscape — EGG-VOLUTION

Intentionally made with cans placed on their side in pursuit of structural audacity, Eventscape’s egg represents hope, life and the potential to grow.

Gensler Architecture & Design Canada Inc. — CAN-Amorphic

Fingers interlace the city fabric and represent the helping hands of our urban communities.

GM BluePlan Engineering Ltd. — Hunger’s a Buzzkill

Let’s fight together and make a bee-line for the end of hunger!

IBI Group — Soup to Nuts

We are aligned with the Daily Bread Food Bank’s mission and ultimate vision by endeavouring to end poverty and hunger through providing all of the ingredients for a complete and healthy meal (Soup to Nuts).

LEA Consulting Ltd. —Fifteen Hundred Mission Cap

Our structure uses cans of tomatoes and cans of white tuna (with all the Little Bones removed) to create a tribute to the iconic purple hat Gord Downie wore during The Tragically Hip’s last tour.

Quadrangle — Global Warning

The consequences of a changing climate are threatening food security around the world – this is ourGlobal Warning that the future of food and our planet must be considered and protected.

Our structure of Russian nesting dolls symbolize a well-fed family and remind us that hunger is not just an individual issue, it affects entire families

RJC Engineers — Slicing Through World Hunger

This planet cross section made of tuna cans is intended to resemble a fruit being sliced, but also bring fourth imagery of how fragile the earth is. If we hope to end world hunger we must also take care of our planet.

Ryerson University Department of Architectural Science — FEED THE NORTH

Our structure is a 3-Dimensional recreation of the Toronto Raptors most current logo.

Turner Construction Company — Feed the World

There are about 795 million empty bowls each night; we can change that, one can at a time.

Turner Fleischer Architects Inc. — Tweeting About Hunger

A ‘canary in a coal mine’ is represented by Tweety Bird in a cage, as a warning sign of hunger and to encourage the use of social media to tweet about it, #CanstructionTO, #DailyBreadTO.